The
country of Myanmar/Burma is going through a bad patch (2009) with
a problem government. The repressive military junta is
unsurprisingly very unpopular with the people who suffer under
its draconian rule, and there is now a worldwide campaign to do
something about it. Here are a few of the many helpful resources
on this:

As
is typical of an evil autocracy, the government of Myanmar/Burma
pretends everything is just fine and that it is a democracy and
everyone is happy. Pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi would
disagree with the government, so they have had her locked up as a
prisoner of conscience.

There
was at one point a desperate attempt by the government to silence
all information on the Internet. This sends a clear message to
the world, doesn't it?

What's
to be done about the Burma/Myanmar problem?:

Some
people have criticised Lonely
Planet for publishing a
Travel Guide to Burma, and there has even been a demonstration
outside the Lonely Planet office, as if it were the Norwegian
Embassy?! The critics claim that the existence of a travel guide
encourages people to go there, and as the hotels are built with
slave labour the tourism is in effect supporting an evil regime.
I would have thought the situation was not as simplistic as that,
and writing a book about the place surely tells people how bad
things really are there rather than keeping it hidden. Also, even
the worst regimes have a bit of a public relations issue when
they are being visited by travellers. To their credit, Lonely
Planet have put up both sides of the argument at their site,
which you are welcome to visit via this dedicated page: Lonely Planet. There are
travel companies who arrange adventurous holidays there, so you
can find out for yourself what it's really like, for example, Exotissimo Travel.

Possible
US invasion of Burma

Critics
of the USA have often
said that the US government only takes a military interest in a
country if there is oil there, presumably because invasion and
conquest of small countries yields oil as the spoils
of war. It's been said "There's no oil in Tibet!".
However, in the case of Burma, I remember seeing the name of that
country over the front of fuel filling stations, so it suggests
there is oil in Burma, so, this may leave the critics wondering
why the USA isn't invading the place?! Maybe it's like Saudi Arabia, where the West has clandestine agreements with the
dictatorial rulers?

Regime
Change

Whether
by revolution, invasion, or bankruptcy, regime change tends to
happen. I have heard tax haven experts say that there will come a
time (presumably after the fall of the tyranny) when Burma is a
place which will enjoy a new prosperity, and will be a place to
invest. However, that is clearly not yet!

Update:
Cyclone

After
the cyclone hit in 2008, international efforts were available to
help, but the government got in the way. Also see the Google
campaign to try to help: http://www.google.com/myanmarcyclone/
(gone)

Update
2010/11/13: Aung San Suu Kyi released! Good News! This could be a
sign that Myanmar/Burma is moving towards joining the club of
nations that are in civilised international society.

Update
2011/04/29: Rambo banned?! I have heard that the movie Rambo (Rambo
4) has been banned in Burma. Surely this can't be true, can it? A
death sentence for selling a movie? Sounds like the place could
really be as bad as it has been imagined to be, in which case,
Burma deserves the bad publicity which it has earned.

The
regime has been especially cruel to the Indigenous
People of Burma (the Karen) and has
committed acts of genocide against them.